• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday

Friday

We arrive at Newark Airport the requisite 3 1/2 hours prior to our scheduled take-off at 10:50pm. We are subjected to a new and unusual security check involving biometrics. First, security people confirm our identities via our passports and record our identifying data on a magnetic card. Then, a machine records some characteristics of our fingers on the same magnetic card. We are then given the card to take with us to the gate. We check in at the Continental counter and receive our tickets and boarding passes. We then go through the usual luggage checks with everything getting X-rayed and labeled.

We have a little time, so we get something to eat and then return to go to the gate. We go through a second security check - shoes removed and everything scanned again - and proceed to the gate. Here, we have yet another security check in which we hand over the magnetic card and get another scan of our fingers.

This second scan is compared to the data recorded on the card from the first scan to confirm that we didn't switch IDs with someone else in the interim. We are then subjected to a body scan with a metal detector and some of our luggage is hand checked. Finally, we can board our plane!

The aircraft pulls back from the ramp precisely on time and begins to taxi to the runway. About 30 seconds later, the cabin suddenly goes completely dark and then emergency lighting comes on as we feel the plane slow to a stop. The captain then announces that the internal electrical system has failed and we are returning to the gate for a replacement. Three hours and several tries later, we're told to gather all our carry-on items and debark back into the terminal. And there we wait for an additional three hours until a new plane is made available.

At 4:30am, Saturday morning, we finally take off for Israel.

Saturday

We arrive at BenGurion Airport at 10:00pm after a fairly comfortable, smooth flight. The excellent meals and service has helped relieve the tension of the delay and late arrival. Since our pickup by the Sar-El representative is at 8:00am Sunday, we get a taxi to the Avia Hotel in Yehud, a small town a few miles from the airport. We welcome a brief, but fully horizontal sleep experience after 17 hours of cramped sitting.

Sunday

After a small, typical Israel style breakfast at the hotel, we taxi back to Ben Gurion to meet Pam Lazarus, our Sar-El contact. We wait as several other volunteers arrive and then climb on a chartered bus for the drive to our domicile base, called "Julis" (for the Arab Village abandoned in 1948 on which it was built) or "Mahane Emmanuel (in honor of Emmanuel Barshai, a soldier killed in during the War of Independence in the battle against Egypt), which is near Ashkelon on the southern Mediterranean coast.

When we arrive, we're met by two of our Madrichot ("guides" [fem]), Galit and Eleanor. After a quick orientation, we're assigned rooms. Men and women in separate rooms, 4 per room. We find several sets of fatigues (army work uniforms) on the beds, but quickly discover that they vary widely in size. After much trying on and exchanging, we all manage to find something that will fit... sort of. An American couple, who have volunteered several times, have brought their own personal uniforms, perfectly fitted, pressed and creased! The rest of us look and feel like comic clichés by comparison! Fortunately, those of us on the gas mask project are permitted to use our own footwear since we won't be dealing with objects that could fall and injure an unprotected foot.

When we're dressed and ready, we climb into a van and ride to our work base, at Gan Yavne, about twenty minutes away. We arrive in time for a hot lunch, which consists of quite good TV dinner-type hot trays plus another tray of salads (hummus, baba ganoush, tomatoes), rolls, fruit, cookies, and sodas.

After lunch, we begin work, which today consists of assembling the cardboard boxes that hold the gas masks and their accessories (filter canister, sipping tube, and atropine injector). A humorous aspect of this project involves the assembly of the plastic strip that is incorporated into the box assembly as a shoulder strap. The loose ends of the strap are to be stapled together after the box is assembled. Problem: eight assemblers, one stapler! So for three hours, most of our conversation consists of, "Stapler, please!" and "Hey, where's the stapler?" and "Le Stapler, s'il vous plait!" and "Who has the stapler?" and "Ou est le stapler?" and "Stapler, b'vakashah!" There is also heard an occasional, "Ouch! Stapled myself!"

At about 4:00pm, we clime back into the van and return to Julis. Dinner is at 6:30pm in the base mess hall. It's a light meal of Israeli salad, hummus, yogurt, cottage cheese, rolls, juice, and tea. Afterward, we have the evening to get our bunks assembled and organize out stuff in closets and cupboards. Most of us are jet-lagged and exhausted from the hot weather and glad to get to sleep early.

Monday

Each morning, we're up around 6:15 and in the mess hall for breakfast at 7:00. Breakfast, like dinner, is a relatively light meal of eggs (hard-boiled or scrambled), bread, yogurt, salad, cheese, and coffee or tea. (n.b.: These are light meals in name only... there is plenty of fat and calories if you don't eat moderately!)

After breakfast, we walk to what might be called the Parade Ground in the American military. Here, it is a paved area surrounded by tank repair bays, with a flag pole at one end. First, we get the daily, morning news report from our madrichot (either Galit or Helen for the English-speakers and Eleanor for the French-speakers). This morning, there is an extra step in the morning ritual... we are awarded official Sar-El epaulets to put on our uniforms! Our madricha, Galit, officiates and after each award, gives us a sound smack on the back and yells, "Good Luck!" This exclamation seemed a little out-of-place until we realized she was using the literal translation of "Mazel Tov" rather than it's usual interpretation of "Congratulations!"

Then we line up at attention while the flag of Israel is raised. We then have about an hour free before leaving for work during which people can use the pay phone near the mess hall or visit the khanoot ("store"), to buy snacks and sundries. They sell cans of iced coffee and latte that is really delicious!

At 9:00am, we're in the van to Gan Yavne. This morning, we're given a new task. We are to sort gas mask filter canisters. The gas mask center recovers old gas masks from circulation, some dating back to before the first Gulf War, salvages what parts are useable and then recycles the unusable parts for their raw materials. Among the recovered components are the filter canisters. Our task is to examine each canister carefully for any damage or defect... some have dents, some have been opened, some are simply too old. These are packed up to be recycled for the metal. The ones that are unused and undamaged are labeled with bar codes and repackaged to be redistributed to the public in exchange for their old canisters. Although for most of the volunteers this is a "sit-down" job, it requires concentration, a good eye and manual dexterity. Big fans provide some relief from the heat (we're working in an open factory building with outside air temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s F), but it is still hard work and generates a lot of sweat. We are constantly urged by the soldiers who are supervising us to drink, drink, drink!

This evening, after dinner, we gather in the "Moadon" ("Clubhouse") for a lecture on the history, traditions, and general information on service in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), usually called "Tsa-hal" (the pronounced abbreviation of IDF in Hebrew letters).

Tuesday

We continue our sorting and bar-coding of filter canisters. Just before lunch, a very dignified, bearded, elderly gentleman appears and introduces himself to each of us as Aharon Davidi. He is Retired Brig. General, Dr. Aharon Davidi, former head of the IDF Paratrooper Corps. Gen. Davidi founded Sar-El during the Lebanon campaign when he brought volunteers to Israel to harvest the crops of Israelis serving in the war. Since then, Sar-El volunteers have been coming to Israel from around the world to perform various jobs that would ordinarily require Israelis to disrupt their businesses and other activities to accomplish.

Dr. Davidi gives us a very informative lunchtime lecture and thanks us for coming to help. This visit is an honor for us, but not at all unusual... we're told that Dr. Davidi makes an effort to greet virtually every volunteer group that comes to Israel.

Today, we leave work a bit early in order to be ready for the evening's mini-tour to Jerusalem. After quick showers and a change of clothes, we jump on a chartered bus with Galit and Eleanor (our third madricha, Helen, is ill and has had to leave the camp). We're also joined by Eugene, another soldier ("Madrich", guide [masc.]) from the Sar-El Dept. of Education. Eugene, originally from Russia and who spent some time in San Diego (hence, his near perfect California English accent), is to serve as our tour guide.

Our first destination is Yemin Moshe, a small row-house development built outside the walls of the Old City by Sir Moses Montefiore in the 1800s. The site is most

recognized by a windmill built adjacent to the residences. But, a funny thing happens on the way to Yemin Moshe!

Eugene and the bus driver get into several disputes regarding the route the bus needed to take. Apparently (from what we can glean from the combination of rapid Hebrew and unintelligible Russian), the driver has little knowledge of Jerusalem, but ignores the driving directions he's getting from Eugene and going on intuition (or other semi-mystical information), consequently getting lost in the maze of Jerusalem streets which are challenging for small cars, let alone large buses. After a lengthy detour, we finally arrive and spend some time walking the environs of Yemin Moshe and observing the Old City wall across the gorge.

Our next destination is the Jerusalem Mall, which once again results in a conflagration of shouts and curses over the route. Just when the tensions (and the volume) seem to reach critical mass, Eleanor jumps up holding a large box and yells, "Cookies!" In the hoots and applause that follow, the argument dissolves and we ultimately arrive at the beautiful Mall called Kanyon Malkah. After dining in the food court (on a rather mediocre Felafel sandwich), we browse the shops for gift ideas. Tower records yields some Israeli hip-hop records for some nieces, but our most important purchase is in the Office Depot... more later on this!

We return quite late to the base, but the ride is relatively calm and quiet.

Wednesday

We arrive at the Gas Mask base, and as usual, are greeted by Shimon, the Asst. Commander of the operation, for our morning work assignment. But before he can begin, the group presents him with the fruit of our Office Depot shopping... two beautiful new staplers! Although for us, it's a trivial gift and more for laughs, Shimon is seriously touched and appreciative of our thoughtfulness. It makes us wonder how many little things that we in our corporate lives take for granted, but the lack of which on an Israeli Army base can make a serious impact on productivity.

Today's work is divided between more filter canister sorting and the bar-coding of children's' gas masks.

When we break for lunch, some of us are thinking, "Enough, already, with the TV dinners!" So, when Shimon and Artur, his Commander, and some other soldiers suggest going down the road for Pizza, we jump at the idea! We soon find ourselves sitting on a balcony at the Dominos Pizza Place in Gan Yavne village, having a cheese and olive pie. We have a very interesting and pleasant chat with the soldiers, learning that Shimon's family made "Aliyah" (emigrated to Israel) when he was 6 years old. He is ending his compulsory two-year service, but plans to attend Officer Training School. This is not surprising to us as there has been a consensus among the American volunteers that he possesses all of the natural leadership qualities to be a successful officer in the military or executive in industry.

Later, as we're leaving, Shimon gathers the volunteers together to tell us that our group has accomplished an extraordinary

volume of work during the day, our first tangible sense of our performance. Until then, we have had no objective way to know how what we feel was high output, measures up against previous groups. We feel assured that we had done something special. Of course, we all understand that there is no competition involved and that any and all contributions of the volunteers is important and treasured by the Israelis, but being Americans, we can't help our competitive natures.

After dinner, we return to the Moadon for our "going away" party. The evening begins with a lecture and demonstration on Jewish Music by Eitan, another soldier in service to Sar-El. He is a musician, a skilled saxophone player, and he discusses and plays samples from Chasidic times through the present. Then, our madrichot present each of us with a Sar-El hat and T-Shirt, Sar-El pin, and a Sar-El Certificate of Appreciation signed by Gen. Davidi and the Julis Base Commander. Following the formalities, we sing along with several traditional songs and then, inevitably, everyone jumps up and does the Hora and makes a Jewish Conga Line! Somehow, that evolves into the Electric Slide, although done to a traditional Israeli song, with the Americans attempting to teach the dance to the French volunteers without having a common language for the lesson! After some refreshments, we return for our last night in the Julis barracks.

This will be the end of the squeaky bed springs, saggy mattresses, snoring roommates, and hot, muggy air. But, sadly, it also means the approaching end of our work week which provided indescribable pleasure, pride, and satisfaction.

Thursday

We wake up and perform our normal morning rituals, but today, we also pack and clean the rooms and the bathrooms. At Gan Yavne Base, we again split off into two teams, with most of the men working on sorting gas masks, and one of the men and the women, working to sort the last of the filter canisters. It's a short day, ending at 2:00pm, but incredibly, we are able to duplicate the previous (full) day's volume of work!

When we stop working, Artur and Shimon present each volunteer a Certificate of Appreciation from the Gan Yavne base and the Home Front Division of the IDF. Artur also has authorized the awarding of a Divisional pin that is not normally given to the volunteers. He tells us that this is in

special recognition of the exception work our group has done during the week. (We are later assured by one of the long-term volunteers at the base that this is a sincere gesture... she, too, has never before received this pin). He further tells us to wear it with pride as fewer than 400 individuals in the entire IDF are entitled to wear it!

We say our goodbyes to Artur and Shimon, and return to Julis to get our luggage. We then exchange hugs and goodbyes with Galit and depart from Julis for Tel Aviv.

And so ends our Gas Mask Week.